The Eighth Wonder of the World
by xXLiFeGoEsOnXx
Summary: Meredith never thought she wanted a baby. She had her entire life mapped out, and a baby wasnt in her life plan. Until she met her daughter. Derek's daughter. MerDer implied


**Hello! I have had this idea in my head for sometime now; it just took me a while to motivate myself enough to write it. I feel like I should warn you; it is sappy. That was not my goal, but it just sort of happened. **

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Grey's Anatomy, Shonda Rhimes and ABC does. If I did, there would not be a December hiatus. **

Meredith sat on the window seat, drumming her fingers absentmindedly against the glass. She listened to the heavy thudding of the rain as it fell upon the roof in torrents, like dozens of angry soldiers marching off to battle. Thunder roared overhead with a terrifying sonic boom, lightning set the sky ablaze, and Meredith still sat. Watching and waiting. Watching as the sky, dark as pitch, crackled to life with the eerie, almost iridescent light emanated by the never-ending lightning. Waiting for the storm clouds to move on and the bad weather to end, so she could collect water droplets in her toes and feel her hair crackling with the left-over electricity. Watching the storms as they occur and noticing their byproducts, the added electricity in the air or even the general desertedness of the area, had become a huge part of Meredith's life since her move to Seattle. She loved to watch the storms, loved to see how completely unpredictable and terrifying Mother Nature could be. Storms are the other side of the coin that most people do not appreciate, the side where, instead of nurturing, Mother Nature invokes havoc upon the world. Despite her job, or perhaps because of it, there was nothing Meredith liked more than to sit and watch the storm play out and know that there was absolutely nothing she could do about the wreckage that followed. For once, if something went wrong, she didn't have to feel guilty and she didn't have to fix it. A storm was…freedom.

Only this time, this storm, was different. This time, Meredith was not experiencing the storm alone. She was not planning to collect those water droplets by herself, nor was she going to collect them with someone she could talk to, or hold. Meredith was pregnant, and for the first time in her life, she was imagining what it would be like to share these personal experiences with someone else. With a child, her child, Derek's child. What would it be like to take her child, a girl with Meredith's big green eyes and Derek's curly black hair, outside and watch her chase the worms after the rain? What would it be like to take her child, a boy with Derek's laugh and her blonde hair, to the lake in the backyard and teach him about frogs and minnows? What will it be like to wake up every morning for years to come and know that there is a tiny person down the hall who relies on her to make it through the day?

As a surgeon, Meredith was used to the pressure that came with the ability to control other peoples' lives. Their future rode in her hands, and, medically, she had gotten used to that. But, personally? She was terrified. At the end of the day, whether she lost a patient or not, she went home. Of course she mourned if someone died, but she continued on. If she made a mistake with her child, however, there would be nowhere to run. She couldn't just send the crying family home and move on to the next case; that would be it, the see all and hear all 'case' of her life.

When Meredith finished contemplating her future, she noticed that the rain had stopped and a few rays of sunshine had burst through the cloud barrier. She stood up and stretched, working out the kinks in her lower back, before heading to the patio. She picked up her shovel, admiring the nicks in the smooth metal caused by years of use. She carefully gathered the lone seed she had set aside earlier, and strode across her spacious lawn purposefully, admiring the view. A few years after their wedding, Derek and Meredith had finally done justice to his gorgeous piece of land. They had gotten rid of the trailer, and built a house. When Meredith had gotten pregnant, she realized just how perfect the house truly was. It was the perfect place to raise a child, with a big lawn for their inevitable child to play in; an amazing view of the lake, and it was gifted by the most amazing sunsets known to mankind.

Meredith stopped suddenly in the middle of the lawn, frowning instinctively as wet mud squished between her bare toes. Meredith narrowed her eyes and gazed across her yard, picturing in her mind's eye the many places she could plant. But this spot had to be perfect, absolutely perfect. She finally settled on a rather secluded area of the lawn in the left corner. She began to run towards it, her anticipation growing with every passing second. Before this house, she had never used her green thumb. She didn't even know she had a green thumb; she assumed she had ten regular colored fingers slightly obsessed with a ten blade. Astonishingly enough, Meredith found that planting was a lot like surgery. Both actions dealt with preserving a life first hand. Granted, surgery had blood and excitement and was much more appealing, but Meredith did plant when she found herself drawn by a particular nature related idea. Like now.

Meredith took the shovel in her hands and thrust it into the earth, admiring how the dirt caved beneath her touch. As she dug, Meredith began to dream again. To wonder, and marvel at the amazing opportunity that had just been handed to her. Having a child was never something Meredith had planned for, and she and Derek never even talked about expanding their family before they got married. Since as long as she could remember, she had decided that she did not want kids. She didn't want to turn into her mother. Ellis Grey had been a career motivated woman who had neglected Meredith, and had made her feel unloved, unwanted, and generally burdensome. Meredith knew that surgery was a high profile job when she picked it, and she had always promised herself that she wouldn't be her mother. She wouldn't inflict that self doubt on a child. Derek had argued with her in the beginning, but her she got so emotional about the issue he had simply given up. Two years into their marriage and at the very beginning of her residency, Meredith saw blue. A blue line on the pregnancy test.

This baby was completely unexpected, and the perfect addition to Meredith's life. In the beginning, she was sure she didn't want it. Meredith knew she could never have an abortion, but she was contemplating the idea of adoption. She could hardly take care of herself and her marriage; how could she handle a baby, too? As her pregnancy progressed, and as she watched how amazingly Derek handled the idea of a baby, Meredith began to want her child. That eventually grew to complete and utter love, and a fulfillment of a craving she never knew she had. She did not realize just how much she, as a woman, ached to be a mother until she found out that she was with child. That little blue line changed her entire viewpoint on life, and she realized that nothing, not her goals, not McDreamy, not surgery, had ever meant as much to her as this unborn child. An unborn child that, without even leaving the womb, had captured Meredith's heart and re-wired her life path. At this point in her life, four months along, Meredith could not want this child more.

The overpowering scent of wet soil wafted up to Meredith's nose, making her sneeze and bringing her head out from the clouds. Placing the shovel on the grass, Meredith carefully plucked the seed from its safe spot and dropped it in the hole. Satisfied that her plans could be set into action, Meredith buried the seed and sat back on the ground. Soon, this seed would grow and sprout much like the child developing within her. This seed would grow to become a tall and majestic willow tree, with branches for a little boy to climb and falling boughs of leaves for a little girl to lie underneath. Her son could scale the tree and see the world like the conquistadors of old, and her daughter could host tea parties in the shade. Derek could build a tree house for her child, a secret safe haven high above the world, nestled between the branches of the weeping willow tree. This tree represented everything Meredith wanted to hand her child from birth: endless opportunities full of fun and imagination.

The months flew by as if on the wings of a bird, and before Meredith knew it she was nine months along and rapidly closing in on her due date. She was as ready as she was ever going to be. The nursery had been painted a neutral green, because she did not want to know if she was having a son or a daughter, and the house had been stocked with baby furniture and other necessities. Derek had packed her a suitcase, charmingly dubbed 'the kit', which had been resting by the back door for a week now. The Chief and Bailey had, annoyingly, sent her on maternity leave when she reached six months. She had enjoyed the break; more time for Derek and her friends and it was hard to move around. But now she was annoyed. She wanted to work. She wanted to be able to see her feet. She wanted to hold her child.

When the clock in the foyer struck noon, Meredith set aside her Hopkins Medicine magazine and eased herself out of her comfy chair. Following the daily ritual she had adopted nine months ago, Meredith waddled down to the willow tree. It was hardly a tree yet, more like a struggling sapling, scarcely a foot tall and less than a full hand around. But it represented her dreams for her child, a symbol of motherly love and Meredith's devotion to her child, so to her it was the strongest and prettiest tree in the yard.

After resting the watering can on her protruding belly, Meredith tenderly cared for the tree. She straightened folded leaves, plucked stray debris, and checked for exposed roots. As she nurtured the tree, Meredith was abruptly hit with a wave of pain. She fell to the ground with a hard and painful **thump**, only to discover that her water had broken and she was entering labor. Her pain was overwhelmed by her increasing anticipation. The time was here; she was almost a mother.

The next few hours were a blur for Meredith, between the pain and the excitement she hardly remembered a thing. Derek told her that the contractions had sped up in the car and he was frightened that he wouldn't get her to Seattle Grace on time. Still, after she reached the hospital, Meredith had been in labor for roughly an hour before her child was born. Her child. That part she remembered vividly. Every sight, every scent, every touch of her little girl was imprinted on her mind for all eternity. Meredith remembered the sound of her daughter's cry when she emerged into the world, the look in her newborn's eyes as she took everything in for the first time. But above all, Meredith remembered how amazing, how right, it felt to hold her daughter in her arms. She felt as if her whole life she had gone about blissfully unaware of what she was lacking, a human puzzle that was missing one piece but wasn't aware of the absence, and this little girl miraculously filled a place in Meredith's heart that she didn't know even existed.

The days past by slowly, and Meredith couldn't wait to be released from the hospital. She couldn't wait to take Liani home and introduce her daughter to the world. All of her friends came by to check on her and rave about her daughter's beauty. Izzie was entranced by her, completely and utterly, and was already begging Alex for a baby. George seemed a little scared of her at first, but it was obvious that he was in awe. Even Christina thought she was cute.

Derek, thought, had been the best. He came to Meredith's room almost fifteen times a day, literally, which was practically every moment he wasn't in surgery or visiting his daughter. Derek, of all people, had once had a twenty minute conversation with Meredith about Liani's nose. Both parents thought it belonged to the other. He had even gone as far as filling her room with flowers, just vase after vase of flowers. Meredith had never seen him happier.

Finally, Addison told Meredith that she and Liani could be dispatched. Eager to see her daughter, Meredith briskly walked down the long corridor of the hospital towards the nursery. She glanced around until she saw her daughter, her child, and Meredith could feel an involuntary smile light up her face. Liani was so beautiful, so perfect, Meredith felt like she could burst with pride for her tiny daughter. She had Derek's eyes and dimples and wisps of Meredith's blonde hair and stubborn chin. Meredith felt like she could stare at her daughter all day, watching the way she yawned or clenched her hands, waiting for her to learn to laugh or even speak. That child was a bundle of pure, raw opportunity and Meredith couldn't wait to help Liani make something spectacular out of her life.

The nurse walked out holding Liani, who was completely swaddled in peppermint pink blankets, and Meredith instinctively reached out for her daughter. The weight of Liani in her arms comforted Meredith's nerves and she headed towards the car, enthusiastic and willing to start the next chapter of her life. As far as she was concerned, raising Liani was what she was born to do. Liani was her gift to the world, her piece of immortality, and it was then up to Meredith and Derek to raise her well, treat her right, and make sure when her time came she could enter society as a productive adult. It was an overwhelming task, but Meredith knew without a doubt that it was what she had been born to do.

Meredith watched her daughter grow up happy and healthy, and she knew that she could never wish for anything else. Liani was sweet and smart and so in love with life it made Meredith laugh just to watch her. Her daughter, her four year old daughter, would spend her post-preschool afternoons simply chasing butterflies in the yard or ogling her parents performing surgeries. She loved surgeries. Sometimes she would try to hoist herself onto the low branches of the willow tree. The tree was easily as tall as the house now, and just as sturdy. It, like Liani, had fulfilled all of Meredith's wildest dreams and more. Meredith and Liani read stories, at least three times a week, under the shade of the tree, and after preschool Meredith could watch her daughter frolic around the tree. Sometimes Liani played with dolls, or tea cups, and sometimes she played hide and seek with her friends behind the wide trunk. The willow tree provided her with endless fun and creative opportunities.

When Liani was 10, she managed to climb to the top of the willow tree for the first time. After she was secure, she let out a holler that made Meredith, washing dishes indoors, break a plate. Meredith ran outside, expecting to see Liani hurt or in trouble of some sort. Instead, she saw her daughter, cheeks rosy with exertion, eyes gleaming with satisfaction and wearing a wide toothy grin standing proudly at the very top of the tree. At that moment, Liani had never looked more like Derek. As Meredith watched her daughter, her heart swelled with pride. She had worked so hard to get up there, spending hour after hour in those branches. Seeing Liani succeed like that, all on her own, really made Meredith feel like she, too, had succeeded.

Everything seemed to fly by so fast; Meredith could hardly keep track of her life and her memories. She could barely register that anything had happened, that anything had changed, before something new had occurred. Life moved on like a dragonfly, always skipping out of your reach, and when you finally notice it, it's gone. Meredith could hardly believe that today was the day of Liani's wedding. To her, it still felt like she had just brought Liani home from the hospital. How could a newborn be getting married? True, she was ecstatic that Liani had made it out of her teenage days alive, and thrilled that she and Derek had survived them, too. But married? Marriage is for grownups. Her little girl can't get married. Can she?

Meredith wiped her tears with the back of her hand as she heard the door creak open. Her smile was crooked as she glanced back at her daughter, glittering in her wedding dress and sporting her trademark dazzling smile. Liani's smile fell as she noticed the tears on her mother's face. With a huge hug, she led her mother to the backyard. Together, they traced the initials carved on the willow tree and reminisced about the days of Liani's youth. When they were done, many tears had been shed, but Meredith was able to let Liani get married. She was happy for her, thrilled to see her child embark on this natural stage of life, but she would ache for her something terrible. The house wouldn't be the same without her; Meredith wouldn't be the same without her.

After making sure her mother was no longer bawling and safe in Derek's arms, Liani led her husband-to-be to the willow tree. There, beneath the very tree she grew up under, Liani was married. This was more than Meredith had ever hoped for when she had planted the willow so many years ago, but Liani using it as her marital spot only made Meredith love her daughter more. That tree was a symbol of their mother-daughter bond, and when Liani choose it, she handed Meredith the moon and the stars.

More time flew by, and before Meredith knew it, she was pushing her grandchildren on swings her son-in-law had fashioned. That tree had really extended to cover the entire family, to become a beacon of love. Meredith felt like her entire world was going to explode whenever Liani visited with her children; watching her daughter interact with her kids made Meredith herself feel like she and Derek had accomplished their life goal. They had raised their daughter properly, and Liani was raising her children the same way. The wheel of life, of love, never stopped turning. And Meredith knew that long after she was gone, and even long after her precious Liani was gone, her grandchildren and their children would continue to bless the world with their gifts and talents. And she couldn't really ask for anything more.

**I told you, sappy. Hopefully not too sappy though, because as cocky as this sounds, I actually liked it. A little OOC for Meredith but it is possible for her to discover the feelings. **

**I think I am just going to leave this as a One-shot. Not sure, I have to see how I could even remotely continue it. **


End file.
